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Purpose:
· God is Faithful to Keep His Covenant Promises
Covenant – Berit - an agreement enacted between two parties in which one or both make promises under oath to perform or refrain from certain actions stipulated in advance.
Hebrews 8:6-13 - But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. 8 But finding fault with his people, he says: See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenantwith the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—9 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I showed no concern for them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant.10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them. 12 For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins. 13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away. (CSB)
Adamic – Noahic – Abrahamic – Mosaic – Davidic – New
Grant Covenant (unconditional) - A covenant when a greater and lesser person came into covenant, and the greater one took on all of the obligations. The lesser one only needed to receive the covenant.
Kinship Covenant (parity) - A covenant when two equal parties came together, as in a marriage. Each party took on a small list of obligations in the covenant. This type of covenant had a small set of obligations and was very evenly divided between the two parties. It was most commonly utilized to forge family relationships or welcome people into the family. A kinship covenant was also referred to as a parity covenant
Vassal Covenant (suzerain treaty) - A covenant when a greater and lesser person came into covenant based on the greater one’s ability to destroy the lesser one. Instead of destruction, the greater one offered the lesser one safety in exchange for the ability to collect taxes and tribute, take slaves, and so forth. Typically this happened when a king conquered a nation and offered the people of that nation their lives in exchange for a level of servitude to his harsh rule. As a result, in this covenant, the greater person had all the power, and the lesser person had to fulfill a large number of obligations. A vassal covenant was also referred to as a suzerain covenant
*With each covenant, obligations or expectations are given -> Depending on the type of covenant, the obligations or expectations are indicative of the covenant or they are imperative for the covenant. It’s either by faith or by the flesh. Of the 6 major covenants in Scriptures, every one of them is a Grant type covenant except the Mosaic covenant (Which the 10 commandments came to be referred as the Old Covenant).
Exodus 19 & 20 – God speaks to the Israelites and tells them He wants to make covenant with them. He wants relational covenant in which He will be their God and they will be His people. He desires that they all would be priests before Him. They hear His voice and fear and so instead of going further up the mountain and entering into the promises He is offering them, they call for the rules and obligations of the covenant and promise to keep the rules based on their own ability. Instead of responding in faith, they respond in the flesh.
Deuteronomy 5:23-27 – The people fear God and essentially tell Moses to go be the mediator of the covenant. They call for the rules and rather than enter into a Grant covenant with God – They enter into a Kinship Covenant. God comes pursuing relationship, the Israelites call for the rules. In this Kinship covenant – God is the patron father, and Israel becomes the servant son.
Scott Hahn - “The covenant was both a statement and a claim; in technical terms, an indicative and an imperative… So what we find then, is that both poles of the covenant (God’s initiative and Israel’s obedience) are held together within the same relational metaphor of father and son.”
Deuteronomy 27-30 – The Kinship Covenant transitions to a vassal covenant because the Israelites obviously don’t hold up their end of the agreement (Moses coming off the mountain – Golden calf / Tablets broken). What began as 10 laws given at Sinai ended up becoming 613 laws by the time of Jesus. What becomes clear is that the purpose of the law was not save anyone or deal with the sin problem but rather to reveal (expose) the sin problem.
Matthew 5:17-18 - Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished
Tim Keller - “Jesus, as the obedient and faithful covenant servant, absolutely fulfilled the conditions of the covenant through his life and his suffering in our place, making it possible for him, as our covenant Lord, to love us unconditionally. At the cross, both the law of God and the love of God were fulfilled.”
Hebrews 8:6, 13 - But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises… 13In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 9:15 - For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance - now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
*The NC is not between God and man, but rather, between God the Father and the Son (Hebrews 9:11-28). We receive the NC by inheritance. We receive our inheritance by being in Christ.