When Jesus used the term New Covenant he was not saying anything novel, but placing his life, ministry, and work in the flow of God's prophetic purpose for history and redemption. In essence, he was saying that the promise of God made through Jeremiah (Chapter 31) and Ezekiel (36) was being fulfilled in Him. He was the mediator of the New Covenant. It is often said that the God we meet in he Bible is a covenant making and covenant keeping God. It has been his modus operandi to make covenants that would fulfill his ultimate purposes in redemption. I will not attempt to cover all of them, but I want to look at a couple of the covenants found in the Old Testament. Whenever you look at covenants you should probably think about a couple of key things.
1. Who is the covenant being made with? Who are the parties involved?
2. What are the conditions of the covenant?
3. What promises do the parties make in the covenant?
4. What is the purpose of the covenant?
There may be other important aspects but these should help for now. So, how about the Abrahamic covenant found in the book of Genesis. In chapter 12 and 15 God makes some promises and solidifies a covenant with Abraham. The bottom line of the covenant is that through him, all the nations on the earth will be blessed. The Abrahamic covenant marks the period of time in God's revelation of history where he begins the plan of redemption. Ultimately Jesus would be the fulfillment of the blessing to all nations through Abraham, but the covenant itself has some specifics that should be note.
1. Parties: The covenant was in essence of promise of God to make Abraham a great nation from his offspring, give the people an incredibly central portion of the land in the known world.
2. Conditions: Intitially in Chapter 12 Abraham must go forth into a new land. Much of chapter fifteen is a dramatic display of the oath where God declares that he will take the oath for both sides, taking responsibility for the fulfillment Himself.
3. Promises: The promises are to multiply his offspring and eventually bring them into the land.
4 Purpose: The purpose is ultimately for God to bring his blessing to all nations through the people he has placed in this central role of time in and place.
So here is your homework... Use these four categories to understand the Mosaic covenant in the OT. I'll give you a hint, look in Exodus.
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Parties Involved: This is a covenant from God to Moses and his people
Conditions: This one was difficult. All I can guess for now, without further reading/study, is for Moses to be the leader and step up to Pharaoh.
Promise(s): Deliverance out of the land of Eygpt and Pharaoh (Exodus 6:6) and into the land he promised to Abraham (6:8)
Purpose: To fulfill a part of His convenant with Abraham and to relieve Isreal of their slavery and suffering (6:5)
I think I deserve a C+. ha
But the Mosaic Covenant is not made til' after the Exodus from Egypt.
Parties: Between God and Israel (house of Jacob and sons of Israel). (Exodus 19:3)
Conditions: Exodus 19:5 "...if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant..."
Promise: continuing verse 5 "...then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine."
Purpose: Exodus 19:6 "...and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation..."
Verse 6, in my short-study opinion, is meant to reflect the breadth of what this covenant should mean to the nation of Israel. If they were to be a kingdom of priests, one would wonder to whom? Just as a priest was a mediator between God and the nation of Israel, so to had Israel by existing as the nation who brought forth the great mediator between God and the rest of mankind - Jesus Christ.
ah, good answer.
kevin, i like your answer...this is a fun little classroom we have here. hopefully I will be joining you all frequently.
annie
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