christ law covenants

1. Lesson 10

2. Key Text:
“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”
Hebrews 9:15

3. God’s eternal decision to
save humanity has been
revealed to us through the
ages by the covenants.
Though the Bible speaks
of covenants in the plural
(Rom. 9:4, Gal. 4:24, Eph.
2:12), there is really only
the covenant of grace, in
which salvation is given
to sinners, not on the
basis of their merits but
on the merits of Jesus
that are offered to all who claim those merits by faith. The plural,
covenants, simply means that God has advanced His saving
purposes by restating the covenant in various ways in order to meet
the needs of His people in different times and settings. It is always,
though, one covenant—the eternal covenant of God’s saving grace.

4. The heart of this covenant is our Lord’s steadfast, faithful love, a
love that the Bible at times even equates with the covenants
themselves (see Deut. 7:9, 1 Kings 8:23, Dan. 9:4). As part of that
covenant, God calls His people to obey His law, not as a means of
salvation but as the fruit of it. Law and grace together have always
been central to God’s eternal covenant.

5. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. It is
based on promises made by either one or by both parties.
There are two methods by which a covenant can operate:
1. Unilateral. One party stipulates the terms, and the
other party just participates or is benefited.
 Sabbath is a unilateral covenant (Genesis 2:3).
We can individually choose to participate.
 We already benefit from the covenant after the
Flood God promised to never destroy the earth
with water again.
2. Bilateral. Both parties to the covenant agree to the
terms of the relationship and make mutual
promises.

6. “And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you,
and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow
in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It
shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the
cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every
living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all
flesh.” (Genesis 9:12-15)
How are the sign and the
covenant related?
Signs are reminders of the covenant,
so the parties remember the terms
.
When we see the rainbow, we
remember that God covenanted
that He will never again destroy the
earth with water.
When Laban and Jacob saw the
pillar of Galeed (Genesis 31:44-53),
they remembered the terms of their
covenant.

7. “That at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world.”
(Ephesians 2:12)
God prepared an eternal covenant
with human race “before the
foundation of the world” (1 Peter
1:20), just in case we sinned.
God explained that love covenant to
Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:15). It was re-
introduced several times in our
history:
1. God’s covenant with Abraham.
2. God’s covenant with Israel on
Sinai.
3. Jesus’ new covenant with us.
This is God’s eternal covenant: He
offers us salvation, and we are called
to just accept the terms.

8. “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after
you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your
descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in
which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I
will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8)
The promise
• Worldly blessings to Abraham’s
descendants, and spiritual blessings
to humankind (Gen. 22:18)
The sign
• “and you shall be circumcised in the
flesh of your foreskins.” (Gen. 17:11)
The terms
• “walk before Me and be blameless.”
(Gen. 17:1)
Keeping the covenant
• “just as Abraham ‘believed God, and
it was accounted to him for
righteousness.’” (Gal. 3:6)

9. The promise
• Same as Abraham’s.
The sign
• The tablets of the law, the ark, the
bread, the salt… (Dt. 9:9; Num.
10:33; Lev. 24:8; Num. 18:19)
The terms
• “This day the Lord your God commands
you to observe these statutes and
judgments; therefore you shall be
careful to observe them with all your
heart and with all your soul.” (Dt. 26:16)
Keeping the covenant
• Believing in the Lamb of God
through the blood from the
sacrifices.
“So he was there with the Lord forty
days and forty nights; he neither ate
bread nor drank water. And He wrote
on the tablets the words of the
covenant, the Ten Commandments.”
(Exodus 34:28)

10. Many of the laws
(including the 10
commandments) were
already kept before Sinai
(Gen. 7:2; Gen. 26:5)
This is usually known as
the “old covenant.”
“And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later,
cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that
it should make the promise of no effect.” (Galatians 3:17)
On Sinai, the eternal covenant God introduced to Abraham 430 years
before became tangible through the sanctuary and the sacrifices.

11. “If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam
after his fall, preserved by Noah, and observed by
Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the
ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of
Abraham had kept the covenant, of which
circumcision was a sign, they would never have been
seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been
necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt;
they would have kept God’s law in mind, and there
would have been no necessity for it to be proclaimed
from Sinai or engraved upon the tables of stone. And
had the people practiced the principles of the Ten
Commandments, there would have been no need of the
additional directions given to Moses.”
E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 32, pg. 364)

12. THE OLD COVENANT
Circumcising the
foreskin.
Commandments
are written on
tablets of stone.
Sins are forgiven
through the
blood of animals.
THE NEW COVENANT
Circumcising the
heart (Ro. 2:20)
Commandments
are written on
the hearth
(Heb. 10:16)
Sins are forgiven
through the
blood of Christ
(Heb. 9:14)
“And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of
death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal
inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:15)
The old and the new covenant
are too similar to be considered
different covenants.
What’s the difference between
both covenants? Which terms
from the old covenant are
annulled in the new one? Which
ones are kept?
Since the covenant was made
before the foundation of the
world, then nothing must be
annulled. The covenant has just
been transformed by Jesus’
death at the cross.

13. “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also
Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.”
(Hebrews 8:6)
When we take up our part of the
covenant, we are benefit from living
a life according to its law.
Which are the covenant benefits?
 Forgiveness of sins (Acts 26:18)
 Continuous spiritual renewal
(2Co. 4:16-18)
 The solid promise of eternal life
(Jn. 5:24; 1Jn. 5:11-13)
 Living as if we are already sitting in
the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6)

14. CHRIST AND HIS
LAW
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