Table Of Contents

The Old Testament
The New Testament
The Names and Features of the Covenants
Key Words of the Covenant
The Prophets of the Covenant
Unity and Tension in the Covenants
The Two Covenants are one in Christ
Christ and the Obligatory Covenants
The New Obedience of the Believer - Its Content
Celebration of the Covenant
The Kingdom of God
The Righteousness of God
Access and Fellowship
Covenant Life is Praise
The Great Disruption and the Grand Renewal
The New Testament Celebration
The Signs and Seals of the Covenant

The fundamental question to which all theology addresses itself is the God-man relationship. How does God relate to man? How can man establish a relationship with God? Is man God's pawn who has absolutely no say at all in his ultimate destiny? Can there be any real stability, dependability and predictability to this one-sided relationship of the infinite, perfect God with finite, sinful man?

The Bible answers these questions by showing us that the divine-human relationship is based on a covenant This idea of a covenantal relationship between God and man is so basic and overwhelmingly predominant in the Scriptures that the two great sections of the Bible have appropriately been called the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant).

The books of the Old Testament are about God's covenant with men. "The covenantal idea was a special feature of the religion of Israel."-Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, eds. Botterweck & Ringgren (Eerdmans), Vol.2, p.278. " . . . the covenant idea played a large part in giving Israel's religion its distinctive character in comparison to the religion of her neighbours, almost as much as did her characteristic monotheism."-Delbert R. Hillers, Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea (Johns Hopkins Press), p. 66. The writings of Moses and the prophets are covenant documents and should therefore be studied in that light.

The twenty-seven books of the New Testament are also about a covenant between God and man. Christianity too is a covenantal religion. Its documents are covenantal documents.

The whole Bible, therefore, is about a divine-human relationship which is based on a covenant. The covenant theme is not just one of many interesting Bible doctrines; it is part of the very framework of biblical theology. Whereas the study of some things in the Bible may be regarded as optional as far as understanding its essential message is concerned, some understanding and appreciation of the covenants is indispensable to a sound knowledge of the Scriptures.

The Old Testament

The Hebrew word for covenant is berith. "Attempts to derive the meaning of the term from etymology have not led to any clear or certain conclusions."-Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Kittel (Eerdmans), Vol.2, p.107. The majority of scholars, however, seem to think that berith is derived from an equivalent Assyrian word which means to bind or to fetter.

Since berith or covenant occurs nearly 300 times in the Old Testament, its meaning may be fairly well established by noting the word's context and usage. Besides the biblical usage, covenants were very common in the ancient world of the Middle East, and from the numerous ancient inscriptions that archeologists have unearthed, the general sense of covenant is quite clearly demonstrated.

In the Bible we read about a number of different covenants between men. For instance, Jacob and Laban settled family hostilities by making a covenant. They set up a heap of stones as a witness to their mutual pledges, offered sacrifice, and ate a covenant meal together (Gen. 31:44, 45). David and Jonathan made a covenant to seal their friendship and to guarantee a peaceful relationship between the house of David and the house of Jonathan (1 Sam. 18 & 20). We also read about a covenant between tribes (1 Sam. 11:1; Judg. 2:2; Ex. 23:32), between kings (1 Kings 20:34), and between a king and his people (2 Kings 11:4; 2 Chron. 23). There was even a covenant imposed by a conquering king on a vanquished king (1 kings 20:34). The most common type of covenant between people, however, was the marriage contract between a man and his wife (see Mal. 2:14).

The covenant between God and man is also likened to a marriage contract (see Ezek. 16:8, 60; Hosea 2:16; Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:32). The relationship is wholly initiated by God. The election of Israel to be Jehovah's wife is entirely a divine act. Here again we see that God's covenant is unilateral in origin but bilateral in operation. God and His people are bound together by a covenant which is likened to a marriage contract.

The New Testament

The Greek work for covenant is diatheke. It is used more than thirty times in the New Testament. Like many other key words or expressions found in the New Testament, it has an Old Testament background and quite obviously incorporates the idea inherent in the Hebrew covenant.

The Practical Meaning of Covenant

It would be difficult to exaggerate the overwhelming significance that the covenant concept had for Israelite religion. The people's relationship with God was based on a covenant, and He would have no dealings with man outside of the covenant. "It is not too much to say that the covenant conception came to dominate Israel's thought about her relationship to God."-Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p.81.

Every religion has to do with some form of union, fellowship, friendship or relationship with the Deity. This is not peculiar to the Hebrew religion. What is peculiar to the Hebrew religion is that this union, fellowship and partnership with the Deity is based on a legal arrangement called a covenant. " ... covenant is a legal conception. . . . a legal basis is inherent in the very nature of the covenant." ~ lbid., p.257. This means that God's union, fellowship and partnership with man are based on a legal contract. Further, God will have no relationship with His people outside of this legal contract.

It may help us to grasp the significance of this point if we observe that the covenant between God and His people is often likened to a marriage contract (see Ezek. 16:8, 60; Hosea 2:16; Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:32). In some respects Israel's solemn promise before Mount Sinai ("All that the Lord hath spoken we will do," Ex. 19:8) sounds like a bride making her wedding vow. The marriage contract, of course, is only one illustration and by no means exhausts the meaning of God's covenant with His people. But since this concept of a marriage contract is still with us moderns, it does help us to understand the biblical thought that our union with God is first of all a legal union. Just as the most sacred human relationship is based on a legal covenant, so God's union with man must be based on a legal covenant. God, being holy love, will have nothing to do with spiritual fornication.

Here we touch on a principle which has vital significance for today. There has been a strong tendency in modern times to move away from the legal categories of the Bible. It is thought by many that legal and religious concepts are inimical to each other. But in the covenant framework of the Bible the legal and the religious aspects of the God-man relationship are bound inseparably together. Covenants are always legal and always religious.

We today tend to equate what is legal with legalism.1 There is a tendency to think that legal categories are inferior notions which are transcended by a truly spiritual religion. But the covenant theme of the Bible shows us clearly that the religion which comes from God has its roots in the law of God and the perfect order of divine jurisprudence.

The current religious scene is dominated by the philosophy that the only thing really important in religion is "a religious encounter," "an experience of Christ in the heart," "an exciting discovery of the Spirit-filled life," etc. Even the more sober discipline of theology tends to develop doctrine from experience and to reduce everything to an experience. (Some even want to call God's act of justification an experience.2) This process, if allowed to continue, would end up destroying everything really distinctive about the Christian faith so that ultimately all religions could unite on the common denominator of a religious experience "in the cave of the heart." In the final analysis this sort of religion will be found to be as immoral and as unstable as conjugal union without legal basis.

The covenant concept, however, provides for a very unique and distinctive kind of fellowship with God.

1. It is a Lawful Fellowship.

The covenant concept taught the Hebrews that their God was the God of law, who called them into a lawful fellowship. As Creator, He is the Author of law. Not only IS law the way in which He administers His universe, but He Himself can be relied upon to act according to law.

2. It is a Stable Fellowship.

The concept of fellowship with God based on a legal covenant meant that there was a stable and dependable element in the religion of the Old Testament. The covenant provided for a "firmly regulated form of fellowship between God and man or man and God."-Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 2, p.109. The "legal concept is introduced to show that there is an established pattern in the dealings between God and man."-lbid., p.110. "There is no firmer guarantee of legal security, peace or personal loyalty than the cove........ It means legitimate order as opposed to caprice, uncertainty and animosity."-lbid., p.115.

The advantages of having marriage based on a legal contract with sacred guarantees are plain to see. Marriage has to be based on something more than fluctuating human emotions. We must also appreciate that a believer's union and fellowship with God rest on something more durable and stable than the actual experience of the believer in the fellowship.

The covenant spells out the terms and conditions of the relationship. The covenant partner may know where he stands. He knows his rights and titles as well as his obligations and responsibilities. This means that the fellowship in the partnership is both dependable and predictable.

It is important that a man may know where he stands in relationship with His God. He does not need to be in jeopardy and uncertainty every hour. But he would stand in great jeopardy if he had nothing to depend on save his own religious experience. The sort of cotton-candy, sentimental evangelicalism that offers nothing deeper than the experience of "Christ in the heart" is not to be compared with the true freedom that a believer may enjoy in true covenant relationship with God.

3. It Is a Faith-Inspiring Fellowship.

The concept of a covenant fellowship with God gave the men of the Old Testament a mighty anchor to their faith. We may even say that it put them on vantage ground with God. God was obligated to them by the covenant (such is the love and condescension of God). He was their God. They were His people. He was bound to be loyal and merciful to His people. This is why we see examples of remarkable boldness to claim God's blessings. It was the covenant background which enabled Jacob to say to the Angel, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me." Outside of the covenant relationship this demand would have been presumption. We must not, of course, get the idea that the covenant operated automatically or that Israel could rest on God's pledge while she herself flouted her own covenant obligations. Yet if she sincerely turned from her sins, she could always claim God's favor (1 kings 8:31-53; Ps. 106:43-47). This reminds us of St. Paul's words: ... if we are faithless, He remains faithful-for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13, RSV).

This same covenant concept is important for us today. In Romans the apostle Paul teaches us that our salvation is grounded in God's justice as much as in His mercy. This is a great encouragement for faith. If in view of his weakness and sinfulness the believer is sometimes tempted to think that God's mercy may run out, he never wonders whether God's justice will run out. Instead of inexorable justice terrifying the believer, he knows that God's justice is salvation (Rom. 1:16,17). The covenant gives the believer a claim on God that makes him bold to rest his case, not only on God's mercy, but on a justice which means that God must be loyal and merciful to every child of the covenant.

4. It Is an Exclusive Fellowship.

The covenant concept taught the Hebrews that fellowship with God was an exclusive fellowship. They alone were His chosen people. Yahweh alone must be their God. When we say that the covenant relationship with the Deity was peculiar to the Hebrews, this is not to deny that other nations may have thought of themselves as having some form of covenant with the gods.

It seems, however, that the covenantal idea was a special feature of the religion of Israel, the only one to demand exclusive loyalty and to preclude the possibility of dual or multiple loyalties such as were permitted in other religions, where the believer was bound in diverse relationships to many gods. The stipulation in political treaties demanding fealty to one king corresponds strikingly with the religious belief in one single, exclusive deity.-Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Vol.2, p.278.

This idea of exclusive loyalty in the relationship between God and His people is well illustrated by the marriage relationship. The prophets, especially Hosea, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, seize on this thought and use it again and again to charge Israel with adultery.

Further-more, the formula expressing the covenantal relationship between God and Israel, '~I will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Lev. 26:12; Deut. 29:12, [13]; etc.) is a legal formula taken from the sphere of marriage, as attested in various legal documents from the ancient Near East (cf. Hosea 2:4, [2]). The relationship of the vassal to his suzerain, and that of the wife to her husband, leave no place for double loyalty in a monotheistic religion.-Ibid.

This helps also to explain why prophets like Isaiah frowned upon any alliance which Israel might make with surrounding nations. Such alliances were forbidden by Israel's covenant with Yahweh.

The Names and Features of the Covenants

In this section we will identify six of the major covenants which are featured in the Old Testament. These are the covenants which God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel and David, and finally, the new covenant with the house of Israel prophesied by Jeremiah.

1. Adamic

The Bible does not specifically state that God made a covenant with Adam, unless it does so in Hosea 6:7, which says, ... they [Israel] like Adam [margin] have transgressed the covenant Even this marginal rendering is disputed, although in our judgment it is the only rendering which does justice to the context and sense of the passage in Hosea. However, the evidence clearly indicates a covenantal relation between God and Adam.

The necessary features of a covenant are all indicated in Genesis 1 to 3. These are:

1. The contracting parties: God and Adam.

2. The conditions imposed on Adam: obedience to God's commandments, especially refraining from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

3. The implied promise of God: eternal life and immortality, represented by access to the tree of life.

4. The threatening of death in the case of disobedience. When Adam and Eve sinned, a whole series of curses were invoked (see Gen. 3:14-19). The word curse is covenantal language, being associated with the penalty of breaking a covenant.

Besides these four covenant features, we could also point out that the whole Bible record indicates that God has no fellowship with any man outside of a covenant. The covenant is always fundamental in any union between God and man. Just as human righteousness demands a marriage contract as the basis of conjugal union, so does divine righteousness demand a covenantal basis for God's union with man.

Adam was also the covenantal head of the race or its legal representative (see Rom. 5:12-19). His relationship with God was more than a private relationship, for it was one which involved all whom he represented.

The Adamic covenant may be likened to a suzerainty treaty. God was the great Suzerain, and the terms of the covenant were unilaterally arranged by Him. Adam was but a creature of the dust, but the covenant partnership conferred upon him the dignity and authority of a king. He was given dominion over the whole created order (Gen. 1:26-28; Heb. 2:6-8). One lone restriction-to refrain from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil-was to remind Adam that he was a vassal king under the authority of the great Suzerain. Adam could remain a monarch of the earth only as long as he recognized that he was God's creature and subject to divine authority.

2. Noahic

God made a covenant with Noah just before He destroyed the earth by the great Flood.

. . . Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. . . . And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. . . But with thee will establish My covenant.... -Gen.6:8, 13,18.

That which saved Noah and his family from the awful display of divine wrath was this covenant of grace. The man in covenant union with God could never perish. After Noah came out of the ark and stepped onto the new world, he built an altar and offered sacrifices to God (Gen. 8:20), and because of this the Lord renewed His covenant with Noah. In this covenant God also promised to preserve the earth from destruction even though man's heart after the Flood was just as evil as before the Flood (cf. Gen. 8:21; 6:5).

This promise of preservation, which some theologians call "common grace," embraced the whole created order. The earth would continue under a dispensation of divine mercy because of the pleasing sacrifice of Jesus Christ foreshadowed by the beasts on Noah's altar. As long as God's elect were upon the earth (represented by Noah), God would be pledged to uphold the natural order.

The covenant was primarily made with Noah. It was a covenant of redemption and grace. Yet Noah (who represents God's elect) must yet live in this sinful world and be related to the created order. God would therefore preserve the created order for the sake of His covenant with Noah. Just as the lives of a whole shipload of people were preserved because of the presence of Paul (see Acts 27), 50 the sinful world benefits from God's covenant with Noah and his spiritual children.

Although the essence of the Noahic covenant consisted in a divine promise, it did impose certain responsibilities on Noah and his posterity. The mandate first given to Adam, to cultivate the earth, is repeated (Gen. 9:1-3). There is a prohibition against eating blood (Gen. 9:4). And the sanctity of human life must be recognized and enforced by human justice (Gen. 9:6). God also gave a sign and seal of His covenantal promise. He said, "I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth" (Gen. 9:13, RSV).

3. Abrahamic

Just as God rescued Noah from a doomed world, so He rescued Abraham from an idolatrous environment and separated him for covenant partnership with Himself. The covenant was made with Abraham when the patriarch was seventy-five years old (Gen. 15) and renewed to him when he was ninety-nine-the year before Isaac was born (Gen. 17).

The covenant consisted of a divine promise (confirmed by an oath) that Abraham would have a seed and an everlasting inheritance. There were a temporal and an eternal dimension to this promise. In its immediate prospect it promised a son to Abraham and Sarah in their old age and the land of Canaan for his descendants. But it was also a redemptive covenant. It promised that in Abraham's Seed all nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:6-8, 16) and that through Him they would inherit the redeemed earth (Rom. 4:3; Heb. 11:8-16, 39; 2:5; Gal. 3:15-19, 29). The covenant was the gospel of Christ in promise (Gal. 3:6-8,16,19). The immediate temporal promises would serve the purpose of being the vehicle of carrying forward the unfolding drama of salvation-history.

Abraham's response to God's promise was that "he believed in the Lord; and He [God] counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). Paul seizes on this to prove that it was a covenant of justification by faith (see Rom. 4; Gal. 3). The inheritance, Paul argues, was given to Abraham by promise and not because of his achievements in keeping the law. Abraham was justified by faith alone, but the faith which justified him was not alone. At a later time God said that "Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Gen. 26:5; see also 18:19; 22:18). Abraham was not justified before God by faith and works but by a faith which worked (see Gal. 5:6).

The Abrahamic covenant was formalized by a ceremony which apparently was a well-known ancient custom. Abraham took several sacrificial beasts and birds. He divided the animal sacrifices into pieces and placed them in two rows, forming an aisle.2 According to the ancient custom of covenant making, the covenant partners were to walk together down the aisle between the divided sacrifice. As they did so, they would bind themselves under oath to be true to the terms of the pact. The dismembered animal portrayed the cursed fate which would befall the covenant breaker.

The Hebrew form of oath, "God do so to me and more also," probably connects with such ceremonies. This is probably supported also by the threat of Yahweh, "And the men who transgressed my Covenant . . . I will make like the calf which they cut in two." (Jer. 34:18 R.S.V.)-Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p.69.

In the Abrahamic covenant God passed through the parts of the sacrifice while Abraham was in a deep sleep or prophetic trance (Gen. 15:17). The Lord hereby staked His own existence on His promise to Abraham.

While the covenant promise was not given to Abraham because he fulfilled the law or the covenant conditions, the Bible is also clear that the covenant would not operate apart from obedience on the part of Abraham and his descendants. The covenant fellowship imposed upon him the responsibility of being devoted and upright (Gen. 17:1 ; see also l8:19; 22:18; 26:5).

Subsequent history demonstrated that this covenant would not work automatically-that is, without the appropriate response of the human party. Not all of Abraham's descendants became heirs of the covenant promise. Ishmael and Esau were disqualified from being children of the covenant, and so were the unbelieving Jews in the time of Jesus and Paul.

Until Christ came as the promised Seed, however, there were always some unbelieving Jews who were incorporated in the nation which was covenantally related to God. It is clear that many in the nation were not real children of Abraham, for they were "children in whom is no faith" (Deut. 32:20). As strangers to divine grace, they could not be heirs with Abraham of the redeemed world (Rom. 4:13; Gal. 3:6-8). But by being associated in nationhood with the covenant people, they received many of the benefits of life in the theocracy - just as unbelieving sinners live in the same world with God's people and receive the temporal advantages of the Noahic covenant.

Circumcision was given by God to be the sign or seal of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 17:10, 11). By metonymy the covenant became known as "the covenant of circumcision" (see Acts 7:8). According to Paul circumcision was the sign or seal of righteousness by faith (Rom. 4:11), for Abraham was given the promise of justification and salvation by Christ before he was circumcised. The Judaizers, however, perverted the sign and turned it into a means of obtaining the inheritance.

4. Sinaitic

The most important Old Testament covenant was the one made between God and Israel at Mount Sinai. It was the foundation of Israel's relationship with God and that which determined and gave character to the subsequent history of the chosen people.

Of the 286 times covenant is mentioned in the Old Testament, at least 150 of these refer to the Sinaitic covenant. Sinai was a high point of Old Testament history, and the covenant which was made there so dominates the Old Testament record that the collection of books has been named after this covenant.

We note some other major features of God's covenant with Israel:

1. The covenant between God and Israel was a kind of marriage covenant (see Ex. 20:5; Deut. 4:24; Ezek. 16; Jer. 24; Hosea 1-3; Jer. 31:31,32). The oft-repeated words, "I shall be thy God; ye shall be My people," imply an exclusive relationship represented by marriage.

Yahweh brooks no rival; the more real the marriage, the less He permits His bride the luxury of an affair with another. Put it this way: We can measure the faithfulness of His covenant by the intensity of His jealousy. Were He a less passionate husband, His jealousy would not be so keen. The Bible speaks of God's wrath in the same manner. Here too we can make the equation that His wrath is measured by His love. If God did not love so strongly, He would not become so angry.

In this atmosphere, the word "jealous" is a beautiful word. It belongs to the language of love. Only a suitor can be jealous. Hence the expression "to provoke to jealousy." It is precisely because God is a loving husband that Israel can move Him to jealousy. Israel stirs up jealousy when it whores after other gods [Deut. 32:16, 21; 1 Kings 14:22; Ps. 78; Ezek. 8:31.-Harry M. Kuitert, Signals from the Bible (Eerdmans), p.57.

2. The covenant at Sinai was ratified by a blood sacrifice and by a covenant meal eaten in God's presence by the representatives of the people (Ex. 24). Both of these practices were common in ancient covenant making. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on both altar and people. Exodus 24 does not tell us the significance of this ceremony, but it probably represents the cleansing and dedication of the nation to God (see Ezek. 16; Heb. 9:19-23).

3. Just as the rainbow was the sign of the Noahic covenant and circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, so the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was the designated sign of the covenant between God and Israel (see Ex. 31:16,17; Ezek. 20:12). This sign or seal of God's covenant is not a new feature, however, for it appears in the record of God's covenant with Adam (see Gen. 2:1-3).

The Sabbath, the rainbow, and circumcision are, in fact, the three great covenants established by God at the three critical stages of the history of mankind, the creation (Gen. 1:1, 2, 3; Ex. 31:1 6f), the establishment of mankind after the flood (Gen. 9:1-17), and the birth of the Hebrew nation (Gen. 17).-Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Vol.2, p.264.

4. Although the background of the Sinaitic covenant was God's gracious deliverance from Egypt and His electing love toward Israel, there is no question but that the covenant accented the human stipulations. Fellowship between God and Israel would only be possible as Israel fulfilled the stipulations which required wholesouled obedience to God. Whereas the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants accented the promises which God made, the Sinaitic covenant emphasized the promises which Israel made to God (Ex. 19:8; 24:3). As we pointed out earlier, God's covenant with Israel dominated the history of the Old Testament. That history is marked by several great covenant renewals. It was first renewed a few days after the covenant was broken by Israel's apostasy in making the golden calf (Ex. 34:10, 27-29). Then it was renewed to the next generation in the plains of Moab just before the death of Moses. The record of this renewal is the book of Deuteronomy. There was a great renewal of the covenant before the death of Joshua (see Josh. 24; here the covenant bears another remarkable resemblance to the suzerainty treaty). Another great covenant renewal occurred in the days of King Josiah (see 2 Kings 23:2, 3). The last great renewal in Old Testament history took place after the Babylonian Exile (see Neh. 9 & 10).

5. Davidic

God made a covenant with David concerning his royal house. The Lord declared:

. . . I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be My son. -2 Sam. 7:12-14.

There is no record of how this covenant was formalized or ratified. In fact, the word covenant is not used in 2 Samuel 7. Elsewhere, however, it is called a covenant and an oath (2 Sam. 23:5; Ps. 89:3, 28, 29). Like the Abrahamic covenant, it was wholly promissory. God made a promise to David and confirmed it by an oath. We read of no promises made by the human party. "In David, the promise to the patriarchs is fulfilled, and renewed."-The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, art. "Covenant."

Although the covenant was promissory, it did not work automatically without human responsibility. The king who sat on David's throne was obligated to obey the commandments of God (1 Chron. 28:7; 2 Chron. 7:17,18). Failure to do this would mean disqualification from the blessings of the covenant. This actually took place in the overthrow of Judah and the royal line in the Babylonian captivity. Yet even when the Jews were cast off into exile, the covenant with David gave them hope that a son would yet sit on David's throne, for even the children's apostasy could not prevent the fulfillment of the covenant (Ps. 89:29-37).

Like God's covenant with Abraham, the Davidic covenant reached beyond the immediate seed (Isaac or Solomon) and the immediate temporal blessings (Canaan or the throne in Jerusalem) to the real Seed of Abraham and David. That Seed was Christ. Solomon, who ruled in an era of peace and built the temple, was only a type of Christ. God promised that the Son of David would be David's Lord. He would sit at God's right hand and be a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110). Moreover, His dominion would be universal, and all nations would be brought into subjection to Him (Ps. 2). Even the Jews understood that the Davidic covenant was Messianic. The later prophets amplified this hope of Israel's coming King (Isa. 9:6; Zech. 9:10; Dan. 7:14; Ezek. 37:24,25; Micah 5:2).

6. New

The new covenant is first brought to view in Jeremiah 31:31-34:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an Husband unto them, saith the Lord: but 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; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

This prophetic promise was made at the time of the Babylonian captivity. The chosen people had so transgressed the covenant that the great rupture took place. As Adam, the covenant breaker, was expelled from Eden, so the Jews were expelled from the promised land and sent into captivity. Yet this was not to be a full end. The prophets spoke hopefully of a new beginning. Hosea likened it to the faithful God taking back the faithless wife. Isaiah spoke of a new exodus, Ezekiel of a new temple and a new Davidic King, while Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant.

No doubt the Jews anticipated that these prophecies would be fulfilled at the end of their seventy-year exile, and there was some justification for this expectation. Jeremiah's prophecy of the new covenant is written in the context of the return from captivity in Babylon (see Jer. 31). In the prophets there is a mingling of the local historical fulfillment and the final eschatological fulfillment.

When the promise of a new covenant with Israel is seen in its historical setting, it becomes clear that God is referring to a grand covenant renewal. The conditions of the covenant remain unchanged, but God will forgive the sins of His people and put His laws in their hearts (see also Ezek. 36:26, 27). The writing of God's law in the heart is not to be confined solely to New Testament times, for through Isaiah the Lord addresses the returning exiles with these words: "Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law . . . (Isa. 51:7). Isaiah 56:1-6 refers to the covenant renewal also and mentions the Sabbath and the covenant interchangeably. Evidently Sabbath renewal and covenant renewal went hand in hand (see also Neh. 9:39; 10:31).

Of course, we now know that the new covenant promise reached its full realization in the coming of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Just before His death Jesus spoke of that death as a covenant sacrifice. He instituted the Supper as the sacral meal of the new covenant (Matt. 26:27, 28). But even here the covenant is the kainos covenant, and like the new (kainos) commandment and the new (kainos) heaven and earth in the Revelation, it really means a renewed covenant. Because of Christ's death as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), God is able to forgive the sins of believers and take man back again in lawful partnership and fellowship with Himself.

It was prophesied by Jeremiah that the new covenant would be made with "the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." The New Testament makes it clear that this new covenant is made with the new Israel. Since Christ is the Seed of Abraham, every believer, being in Christ, is a true son of Abraham (Gal. 3:29) and an heir of the new Canaan, which is the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21:1).

Like the covenant made with Abraham and David, the new covenant is overwhelmingly promissory. God promises forgiveness of sins and the writing of His law in the heart (see Heb. 8:10-12)-or as we could say theologically, justification and sanctification, a title to heaven and a fitness for heaven. This is not to deny that there are obligations resting upon new covenant believers. The New Testament is quite explicit about the sort of whole-hearted obedience demanded by those who are joint heirs with Christ. Yet their obedience does not fulfill the stipulations of God's covenant and is not the procuring cause of God's blessing. As it was with Abraham, the inheritance is wholly of grace, wholly of promise. The obedience of God's children adds nothing to God's promise but testifies that His children are genuine believers in Jesus Christ: While no man is saved by good works, it is also true that no one will be saved without good works; or to put it another way, salvation is not by obedience but to obedience. He who does not obey God demonstrates that he is not saved by grace through faith.

Key Words of the Covenant

The covenant concept is so fundamental in Old Testament theology that other important words derive their real force from the covenant context. In an excellent little book, Signals from the Bible, H. M. Kuitert shows how key words like righteousness, justice, kindness, truth, peace, sin and election are to be understood in relation to the covenant.

Righteousness

Righteousness is a covenantal word. When one does what is expected of him as a covenant partner, he is righteous. Righteousness is ascribed to the man who lives in a right relationship to God and acts as a true covenant partner. The law defines the terms of that relationship and spells out what is expected of the man in covenant with God. On the other hand, God is said to be righteous because His actions are true to His covenant relationship. When God delivers and saves His people, His righteousness is demonstrated because He proves true to His covenant pledge. From the human side faithful obedience is the content of righteousness (Deut. 6:25), but from the divine side the content of righteousness is salvation (Ps. 71:15,24; 103:6; Isa. 45:8; 51:5; 56:1).

It is the covenant which explains how God's justice can mean salvation to sinful men. We might well expect, as did the unenlightened monk by the name of Martin Luther, that God's justice means nothing but wrath and condemnation of sinners who are fully deserving of death. But God has made with the children of Abraham (i.e., repentant believers, Rom. 4:12; Gal. 3:7) a covenant of mercy (Deut. 7:12). He has pledged Himself to be kind and gracious to them in spite of their sinful state. Thus when God delivers the undeserving Hebrews from Egypt, it is an act of justice because He is showing Himself true to the covenant which He made with Abraham (Ex. 2:24, 25). When sinful Israel repents and cries unto the Lord for deliverance from her enemies, it is God's justice which delivers her by the hand of the judges (see the book of Judges).

Many times did He deliver them; but they provoked Him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry: and He remembered for them His covenant, and repented according to the multitude of His mercies. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives. Save us, 0 Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto Thy holy name, and to triumph in Thy praise.-Ps. 106:43-47.

Many times does the Psalmist call upon God's righteousness (justice) to save him in his sore distress. Psalm 71, for instance, is a celebration of God's saving justice:

In thee, 0 Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in Thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline Thine ear unto me, and save me. Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: Thou hast given commandment to save me; for Thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, 0 my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For Thou art my hope, 0 Lord God: Thou art my trust from my youth. . . . My mouth shall shew forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. . . . My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt. -Ps. 71:1-5, 15,24.

Nowhere is the saving justice of God more poignantly displayed than in Psalm 51. David had sinned grievously. He deserved to die and to be cut off from fellowship with God. But David repents and pleads for covenant mercy. He argues that the extension of divine mercy would be an act of God's justice, for he prays, 'Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, 0 God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness" (Ps. 51:14). Again the Psalmist celebrates the joy of divine forgiveness in these words, "The Lord executeth righteousness [justice] and judgment for all that are oppressed" (Ps. 103:6; see context).

Isaiah describes Israel's deliverance from Babylon and her restoration to divine favor and privileges as an act of divine justice. It was not justice in the sense that Israel deserved to be the recipient of God's saving act (for the prophet complains that Israel's righteousness was like a filthy rag), but it was justice in that God was being true to His covenant in spite of Israel's obvious sinfulness. Isaiah 40 to 66 is mostly one inspired celebration of God's righteousness, which means salvation for His oppressed people. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. - Isa. 45:8.

My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust. -Isa. 51:5.

Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.-Isa. 56:1.

When Paul proclaims that the gospel reveals the righteousness (justice) of God, which is salvation to all who believe (Rom. 1:16,17), he is setting forth the essential covenant message of the Old Testament. But he does it in the light of God's final and ultimate act of salvation, which has taken place in the death and resurrection of Christ. All who believe are incorporated into that saving event and are thereby forgiven, saved from well-deserved wrath, and justified unto life eternal-and all this as an act of divine justice. One main difference between the Old Testament era and the era of Paul's gospel is this: In the Old Testament it remained somewhat of a mystery how a just God could pardon sin and save sinners like David and the exiled Jews. But in Paul's gospel the secret is revealed, for he points to the propitiatory death of Jesus as the grounds of God's being able to pass over the sins of a former age while still being just (Rom. 3:25,26).

Biblical theology is covenant theology. Because it grounds man's salvation on God's justice, it gives an absolutely solid basis for a man's faith. While he may be tempted to think that God's mercy may run out, his own conscience tells him that God will be just. But instead of this terrifying him, he may look in faith to God's covenant pledge (now sealed in full view by the death of Christ) and know that a just God must forgive and save those who put their trust in the God of the covenant.

Unrighteousness

Unrighteousness or sin means failing to do what is expected as a covenant partner. Sin is an act of in-fidelity and unfaithfulness to the covenant responsibility. Man's covenant responsibility is spelled out in the Ten Commandments-the "testimony" or edut-which constitute the oath-bound covenant stipulations.

The covenant also helps us to understand the gravity of sin. All sin must ultimately be a sin against the God of the covenant (Ps. 51:4). The sinner is a covenant breaker who offers insult to the covenant Maker. He incurs the curse of the covenant, a curse that is so terrible that its weight and intensity can only be seen in the hell which was exhibited in the execution of Christ.

The wrath of God is also associated with the covenant. The covenant demands an exclusive fellowship between God and Israel as if they were marriage partners (Ezek. 16; Hosea 1-3). God will tolerate no rivals. God's faithfulness to His covenant is measured by the intensity of His jealousy (Ex. 20:5). "His wrath is measured by His love. If God did not love so strongly, He would not become so angry." - Kuitert, Op. cit., p.57.

Kindness and Wrath

Another important covenant word is the Hebrew word hesed -often translated as kindness, goodness, loving-kindness or steadfast love. Says John Bright:

The word hesed cannot be exactly translated. . . . The word is intimately related to the idea of the covenant. When it is used of God, it is very nearly the equivalent of "grace." It refers to the favor of God which summoned Israel into covenant and the steadfast love which he shows them even in spite of unworthiness. When used of man, the word denotes that proper response to grace which is utter loyalty to the covenant of God and obedience to his will.-The kingdom of God (Abingdon), p.28.

The covenant with Israel is likened to a marriage bond. Throughout the Old Testament God is represented as the hesed (faithful, gracious) Husband. Israel, on the other hand, is not hesed; she is like an unfaithful, disloyal wife. Hosea complains that her hesed is like a fickle morning cloud (Hosea 6:4). ln Deuteronomy 7:12 God's covenant is called the covenant of hesed (mercy).

Peace

Peace is the heart of the covenant, for covenant means union and communion in a peaceful relationship. So we should not be surprised to find that the words covenant and peace are often found together. The covenant is even called "a covenant of peace" (see Ezek. 34:25; 37:26; 1 kings 5:12; Ps. 55:20, 21). The Hebrew word for peace (shalom) is much broader than what may today be taken for a certain tranquillity of mind. Shalom also means prosperity, abundance, fullness of blessing, health and well-being. Peace is the benefit of God's covenant, and its blessing is exceedingly great.

These are just some key words whose meanings are amplified and vitalized when seen in their relation to the covenant. There are many more words and ideas that the diligent student, wide awake to the importance of the covenant, could rediscover. If the books of the Bible are studied as covenant documents, they will yield many covenant treasures.

The Prophets of the Covenant

The whole of Israelite religion and history was girded by the knowledge that God, in a historical act, had chosen Israel to be His people and had entered into a covenant with her.

The memory of the Exodus towered over the national consciousness for all time to come. The prophets harked back to it repeatedly. Here is the unforgettable example of the power and grace of God (Amos 2:9-11; Micah 6:2-5; Ezek. 20:5-7), here he carried infant Israel as a little child (Hos. 11:1), here he married her in the covenant ceremony and claimed her loyalty forevermore (Hosea 2; Jer. 2:2, 3). -John Bright, The kingdom of God, p.27.

Once we grasp how omnipresent is the covenant concept in the Old Testament and how many words and expressions allude to it, we have a better basis to understand the message of the prophets. The prophets may not use the actual word covenant frequently (as in Isa. 24:5; 59:21; Jer. 11:3, 10; 22:9; Hosea 6:7; 8:1; Mal. 2:4; 1 Kings 19:14; Ezek. 16:8), and some of them do not use the word at all; but their many allusions to the covenant show that their message was conditioned by the covenant idea.

The prophets were men of the covenant. They were messengers who were fully aware of the meaning of Israel's election and her covenant responsibilities, but they charged her with failing to live up to the terms of the covenant relationship. Particularly striking was their frequent use of the figure of marital unfaithfulness to describe Israel's course of action (see Ezek. 16; Jer. 2; Hosea 1-3).

The prophets found it hard to break through Israel's fatuous conceit, which was nourished by a false view of her election. The covenant was a bilateral agreement, and it could be broken. Israel's glorious destiny could be achieved only if she were obedient. But Israel was unfaithful; she had broken the covenant and forfeited all claims on the divine favor. Therefore judgment and doom would follow.

A number of the prophetic books contain a literary form which in recent years has been identified as a covenant lawsuit. Examples of this are found in Isaiah 1:2, 3, Micah 6:1-8 and Jeremiah 2:4-13. On the basis of His covenant with His people God is represented as suing His people before a court of law for breach of contract. In this procedure the witnesses of the covenant -heaven and earth- are duly called. Micah's demand for justice (mishpat), mercy (hesed), and the humble walk with God (Micah 6:8) is based on what is expected of a covenant partner. The prophets are not ecstatic visionaries but lawyers of the covenant with their feet on the ground. They convict Israel of violating the covenant.

One of the most striking features of the prophets is the way in which they pronounce their message of judgment and doom. They frame their oracles of woe in terms echoing the curses associated with the covenant. In Leviticus 26:15, 22 the Lord had warned, "If you reject My statutes. . . and thus break My covenant, then I will send among you wild animals which shall make you bereft of children and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number and your ways desolate." So Jeremiah 8:17 declares: "For behold I will send among you venomous snakes, against which there is no incantation. They shall bite you, without any healing." And Jeremiah 5:6 says, "Therefore a lion from the forest will smite them; a desert wolf shall ravage them. A panther is watching over their cities; everyone who leaves them shall be torn in pieces."

Deuteronomy 28:53-57 mentions among the curses the awful doom of people eating their own children. Ezekiel 5:10 pronounces this curse on Israel (see also Hosea 13:7, 8). Delbert Hillers is able to point out many instances where international treaties contain curses which bear a remarkable similarity to the curses pronounced on Israel by the prophets.

. . . the prophets were not arbitrary in choosing the lurid figures in which they depicted the wrath to come. They were not indulging a morbid imagination but were fundamentally like lawyers quoting the law: this is just what the covenant had said would happen.-Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea, p.134.

Because Israel had broken the covenant, the time came when she was dispossessed of homeland, kingdom, temple and people. That is where the book of Daniel opens. It opens with a calamity which is like the fall of Adam all over again. Daniel's intercessory prayer (Dan. 9) shows that the prophet well knew that Israel was suffering the results of a violated covenant:

. . . and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, 0 Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments. . . Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. - Dan. 9:4, 11.

The prophet intercedes with God on the basis of His covenant faithfulness. God's righteousness means that He will forgive and renew His covenant with those who repent (Dan. 9:15-19). It was in this context that God promised to send the Messiah to take away sin and confirm His covenant. Daniel, of course, was praying for the restoration of the Jews from captivity and a renewal of the covenant after the Exile. Such a renewal did take place under Ezra and Nehemiah (see Neh. 9 & 10), but God knew that it would be no more stable than before, because it was based on a hesed no more stable than a morning cloud. So in answering Daniel's prayer for forgiveness and restoration (i.e., a renewal of the covenant), God said that He would send His Messiah to make the covenant permanent (see Dan. 9:24~27).1

What God needed was a faithful partner in the covenant, else the covenant relationship would always break down. Such a partner He would find in the Messiah, and then, founded upon Him, God's covenant would be sure and everlasting.

The Old Testament ends on a note of unfulfillment. Endless covenant renewals with Israel would never do. While the covenant might be renewed by sacrifice (Ps. 50:5), a multitude of annual sacrifices could not establish an everlasting covenant. The Old Testament yearns for one final sacrifice that would suffice to renew the covenant once and forevermore.