Old and New Covenants
Many have written on just what changed between the “Old” and the “New” covenants. The explanations have not been satisfactory. One view has it that the Old Covenant had to do with the law given to Moses at Mount Sinai—the ten commandments, and the New Covenant is based on the commands of Christ which He writes on our hearts. But, the writer of Hebrews said, “If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” Hebrews 8:7. Yet in Romans 7:12, Paul said, “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” So, the fault did not lie in what God required.
Another explanation, equally weak, says that the Old Covenant was based on the weak promises of the people— “All that the Lord has said, we will do!” Their intentions were good, but they could not keep God’s requirements on their own, hence it was a faulty covenant. It is argued that the New Covenant is better in that God does the keeping through us— He writes His law on our hearts. That sounds good, but God promised the same aid to the people under the Old Covenant: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” Deuteronomy 6:6. God told the wayward Israelites: “I will give you a new heart…I will put My Spirit in you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Ezekiel 36:26-27. We cannot say that God placing His Law on people’s hearts is an idea new with the New Covenant. Neither of the above explanations makes sense. The first finds fault with the Law, and the second with the peoples’ response. But, Hebrews says that the New Covenant is based on “better promises.” God is the One who makes and keeps promises. What promise did He make that was imperfect? What promises did He make that were better than the ones He made before?
The fist covenant contained promises made to the Hebrew people—Israel as a nation. The purpose for Israel was quite clear—they were to be a shining light, demonstrating to the world what God could do for people when they obeyed His laws. Others would see, be impressed, and desire to know the true God and follow His ways. It was one of those good ideas that didn’t work. The fault lies in making promises to a people group on condition of their collective obedience. If a covenant is made with 100 people with conditions that the promising party would reward the group’s obedience, and 40 in the group obey, but 60 don’t, the agreement is untenable. Caleb and Joshua were found faithful to God, but had to wander around in the wilderness for forty years because of the rest of the group. Daniel and his three friends were faithful to God, but suffered greatly because of the unfaithfulness of the rest of the group. Elijah and the 7,000 that had not bowed the knee to Baal went through 3 • years of drought because of the wickedness of their nation. God was not able to fulfill the promise to gather Israel and bless them, making them the head of all the nations, because they rejected the Messiah. There were, however, Jews who accepted Christ and were faithful to Him, but because of the unfaithfulness of their people by-andlarge, the blessings could not come.
The above is what we mean by conditional promises. The promises of God were on condition of the response of the Israelites as a whole. That is what made the first covenant “faulty.” It was based on an entire people group getting their act collectively together. That did not work because the devil made sure that the majority was never obedient. How then does the new covenant differ from the old? The difference is quite simple: The New Covenant is based on promises that God will fulfill to those who trust and obey. The promises are to individuals rather than to a people group. Those individuals do make up a group. This allows the promises to be unconditional. God can and will do what He has promised, but for those who choose to come into the covenant relationship. This is why Hebrews 8:11 says, “They will not teach every one his fellow-citizen, and everyone his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me.” This text does not imply that the whole world will know God and there will be no one to witness to, but that among those who are in the covenant, they will all know the Lord. In contrast, Caleb and Joshua had a big burden to convince the other spies that God could give them Jericho. If they did not convince them, none, including themselves, would go into Canaan. That is group dynamics. But if the group consists of all those who willingly chose to enter because of belief and willingness to obey, those in the group will not have the need to convince others within the group. Their witness is solely to those who could potentially join the faithful.
The Old Covenant was faulty in that it could not work in the environment of rebellion. The New Covenant works perfectly because the “group” who enters into covenant relationship with God consists of the believers in Christ. This is the “Church invisible.” God will fulfill unconditionally all of the conditional promises of the Old Testament to those who trust Christ. That is why Paul could say to the Galatians, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:29.
The most common mistake today is that Christians think that God owes the Jews the fulfillment of all the promises He made to their fathers. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Notice what the writer of Hebrews says: “When he said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” Hebrews 8:13. Also he said, “He takes away the first in order to establish the second.” Hebrews 10:9. Many make fun of the idea that God had plan “A” and plan “B.” They believe that since God knows the end from the beginning He would not enter into a plan that was not going to work. That is like saying that if He knew Lucifer would rebel, He would not have created him. We find a reference to the two plans in Hebrews 8:7–“For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.”
God gave the Jews 490 years to get their act together as a collective people (Daniel 9:24-25). They did not, so God did not complete the promises. Instead, Christ told them, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.” Matthew 21:43. Then to the disciples He said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32.
Have you ever wondered why Daniel was told to seal up the book until the end of time? Had the Jews repented of their rebellion and accepted the Messiah, God would have completed His part of the bargain with them. He would have gathered them from all the nations, made Jerusalem the center, sat on David’s throne, eventually spread the light of truth to the entire world, judged and destroyed those who refused to see the light, and ushered in eternity. Instead, God moved to plan “B” when it became impossible to work through the Jewish people. Plan “B” included the continuation of time for another long period. The prophecies of Daniel outlined that time period to the final end. The book of Daniel was opened to our understanding as the time in plan “B” approached the close of history. Daniel reveals that God not only is very resourceful, but also knows ahead of time how things are actually going to play out after other options have been exhausted. God not only knows the future, but God is fair. If plan “A” had worked as God originally hoped, the book of Daniel would never have been “opened.”
Imagine that the American Cancer Society decided to make a demonstration of the advantages of not smoking. This demonstration would run over a period of many decades. They found a city willing to be the example. Let’s imagine it was Sacramento, California. Everyone in the city agreed to become a non-smoker, and make sure that anyone that moved in would become a non-smoker. In return, the American Cancer Society would give them all free health insurance. Surveys were done every year to discover when the demonstration could officially be proclaimed, but year after year they found that there was a large # of people who simply refused to give up the habit. Everything that could be done to help those was done—free seminars, free medications, support groups, but in spite of all the help, many just refused to get on board. So, the free health insurance, and the demonstration continued to be in limbo. Finally, after a hundred years, the American Cancer Society decided that his plan was simply doomed to failure. They came up with an alternate plan that would work, but would not be as spectacular a demonstration. Instead of an entire city, they decided to make a spectacle of every person in California who didn’t smoke and every one who would soon quit. By tracking the non-smokers, they could get the statistics and advantages out to the rest of the world. There would be no one city that could be spotlighted and traveled through to see first hand, but there would be many individuals who were demonstrating the advantages of a smoke-free lifestyle. Now they could give out the free health insurance plans and implement the experiment without delay. Those who were not smokers did not need to try to get everyone else to not smoke so that the experiment could start. However, they could recruit all they wanted to get into the plan with them.
Imagine if after two hundred years of the demonstration’s success, someone said, “Hey, what about the promise of free life insurance to everyone living in Sacramento? The ACS owes it to them or they are not keeping their promise!” That would be ridiculous, but that is what people say today about the nation of Israel and the Jews. However, anyone who lives in Sacramento could still get in on the plan by quitting smoking, any Jew can be in the New Covenant by accepting Christ.
Until next time.
Dennis
dennispumford.com
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